Red Sox, Yankees & Politics

The democrats and republicans remind me a lot of the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. You’re either a fan of one and hate the other or you’re not really concerned about the game of baseball at all, in which case you could cheer for either team on any given day. I grew up a Red Sox fan and always hated the Yankees. I’d get very angry every time the Sox lost to the Yanks. In 2003, after a particularly frustrating playoff loss to the Yankees, I got extremely angry. I mean, I was really, really angry and wanted to smash something. I was surprised how angry I got from just a baseball game. I asked myself the question, why do I hate the Yankees so much? The answer was simple. I was raised to hate the Yankees. I never really decided for myself whether or not I should hate them. When I thought about it – I mean, really thought about it, I decided it really didn’t need to hate the Yankees in order to love the Red Sox. I had based my opinion on my parents and friend’s feelings. I decided right then and there that I had already wasted a lot of energy hating something that I really didn’t have a good reason to hate. So, I looked for things I could like about the Yankees such as they have a lot of talented players, they have cool uniforms, their fans are loyal, some of their players are cute, etc. Getting rid of the hate has really brought a new level of enjoyment to the game for me. I can actually watch and occasionally cheer for the Yankees now.

So, why did I go off on the baseball tangent? Because, I think elections are a lot like the Red Sox/Yankees game. Most people either love one party and hate the other. For those that don’t I hope they vote their conscience and not popular opinion (like band wagon fans – you know the fans that only cheer for the team that’s supposed to win). For those that vote either straight democrat or straight republican I hope they ask themselves why? Why am I so loyal to one party and am I being ridiculous in not looking at the other, especially if the other team has a better player?

What is it that really shapes our political views? Do we adopt our parent’s views? I would think that would probably depend on how we view our parents. Most likely we’d agree with them politically if we respect them and vote opposite them if we butt heads. Or maybe our college professors influenced us? After all most of us don’t begin to even think about politics until we’re old enough to vote, which often coincides with our entering college and discovering our new found independence. It’s kind of scary to think of a college professor’s influence on us since most professors have only ever lived in the academic world and base most of their opinions on what they read rather than their own real world experience. It’s easy for them to criticize and theorize when they’re basing they’re opinion on data rather than human experience. Maybe our demographics shape our political views. Are we afraid to go against the popular opinion of our friends, co-workers, neighbors rather than cause a riff in our relationship? Probably the biggest influence on our political views is multi-media. You can’t go anywhere without being exposed to some type of political opinion on television, the internet, radio, newspapers, sign posts, junk mail and on and on. The problem with multi-media is that it is almost always biased towards one candidate. Not to mention the candidate with the most money can really flood the media and draw more attention to themselves.

I wonder how many people actually think about the candidates and research their ideas and their character? I’ll bet the vast majority of Americans decide on a candidate based on someone else’s opinion rather than searching their own hearts and finding the candidate whose stance coincides with their own core beliefs. How many people vote straight party line and never question the character of their party’s candidate?

Personally, I don’t look at the party affiliation when I look at a candidate. However, I tend to vote one party over the other because the candidates usually line up with my personal beliefs. I’m not going to limit myself in how I vote just because my pride won’t allow me to choose the candidate from the other party if he/she is better qualified. Just like voting for MLB all-star candidates, I vote for the best player regardless of whether they’re wearing a Red Sox or a Yankee uniform. Vote responsibly.